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A review by meghaha
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
4.0
Oh no, I really procrastinated writing this review-- it's been a month since I finished The Palace of Illusions. I really need to go back to writing reviews right after finishing a book, as my memory is so poor I really can't get away with waiting so long.
I have an intense and special love for retellings of myths, fables, and fairy tales, so of course I liked The Palace of Illusions , which retells the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of Draupadi (Panchaali). Initially, I almost put off reading this novel because I knew nothing about the story of the Mahabharata or the Bhagavad Gita and I wondered if I should learn more about the original first or even attempt to read it. Then I realized that is not how my introduction to Grimm's Fairy Tales, the Greek myths, King Arthur, or Hans Christian Anderson's stories went: I watched the Disney movies first, or had the picture books. So that's something I should keep in mind: that I shouldn't postpone exposure to a retelling solely because I don't know the original. In fact, retellings may be the best way to get into the source material.
The latest ancient text I've read is The Iliad, and I know while reading it, I was wishing more was said of the women's stories and their viewpoints. I'm not sure how much the original Mahabharata focuses on Draupadi or women's stories in general but it's more than a bit likely it's unbalanced like The Iliad in this respect. I have the suspicion if I ever do read it I'd be more interested in tales outside the warrior narrative. So I really appreciate that Divakaruni chose Draupadi as her main character, not Arjuna.
Reading The Palace of Illusions also got me thinking the boat has already sailed as far as imprinting my consciousness from a young age with myths and fairy tales of non-European origin. If I want to retell a story I'm drawn to Beauty and the Beast, Cupid and Pysche, et al -- variations and inspirations from them are latched firmly in my mind. What do I have in terms of diversity of fairy-tale narratives other than Arabian Nights? I feel a bit of loss that somehow I never read any variation of Journey to the West as a kid (actually as an adult I still don't know the story!).
What to make of this? I think it comes down to well-illustrated, well-compiled storybooks of anything but Grimm or the Greeks being harder to access. Maybe there's 20 copies in the library of them but only one or two of other story compilations. I mean, I remember I never did find an appealing Norse storybook at the library, so I think unless you are actively looking for something besides Grimm's, Anderson's, and Greek stories, it's quite difficult to just casually stumble into anything but them, let alone a diverse reading list. It takes conscious effort and curating to read diversely and this isn't something you think about as a child. I can't reach back in time to shove a books at younger me that retell stories from a wider base of cultures and I feel that loss. I suppose the only remedy is to keep trying to read more widely now, but I do doubt I can imprint these stories into my being as fiercely. I guess it is what it is. And it's not that I don't love Grimm's or the Greek myths; it's that I maybe love them too much, too singularly.
I know this has turned into a bit of an aside and I've barely talked about the contents of this novel, but this is what The Palace of Illusions got me thinking about.
I have an intense and special love for retellings of myths, fables, and fairy tales, so of course I liked The Palace of Illusions , which retells the Mahabharata from the viewpoint of Draupadi (Panchaali). Initially, I almost put off reading this novel because I knew nothing about the story of the Mahabharata or the Bhagavad Gita and I wondered if I should learn more about the original first or even attempt to read it. Then I realized that is not how my introduction to Grimm's Fairy Tales, the Greek myths, King Arthur, or Hans Christian Anderson's stories went: I watched the Disney movies first, or had the picture books. So that's something I should keep in mind: that I shouldn't postpone exposure to a retelling solely because I don't know the original. In fact, retellings may be the best way to get into the source material.
The latest ancient text I've read is The Iliad, and I know while reading it, I was wishing more was said of the women's stories and their viewpoints. I'm not sure how much the original Mahabharata focuses on Draupadi or women's stories in general but it's more than a bit likely it's unbalanced like The Iliad in this respect. I have the suspicion if I ever do read it I'd be more interested in tales outside the warrior narrative. So I really appreciate that Divakaruni chose Draupadi as her main character, not Arjuna.
Reading The Palace of Illusions also got me thinking the boat has already sailed as far as imprinting my consciousness from a young age with myths and fairy tales of non-European origin. If I want to retell a story I'm drawn to Beauty and the Beast, Cupid and Pysche, et al -- variations and inspirations from them are latched firmly in my mind. What do I have in terms of diversity of fairy-tale narratives other than Arabian Nights? I feel a bit of loss that somehow I never read any variation of Journey to the West as a kid (actually as an adult I still don't know the story!).
What to make of this? I think it comes down to well-illustrated, well-compiled storybooks of anything but Grimm or the Greeks being harder to access. Maybe there's 20 copies in the library of them but only one or two of other story compilations. I mean, I remember I never did find an appealing Norse storybook at the library, so I think unless you are actively looking for something besides Grimm's, Anderson's, and Greek stories, it's quite difficult to just casually stumble into anything but them, let alone a diverse reading list. It takes conscious effort and curating to read diversely and this isn't something you think about as a child. I can't reach back in time to shove a books at younger me that retell stories from a wider base of cultures and I feel that loss. I suppose the only remedy is to keep trying to read more widely now, but I do doubt I can imprint these stories into my being as fiercely. I guess it is what it is. And it's not that I don't love Grimm's or the Greek myths; it's that I maybe love them too much, too singularly.
I know this has turned into a bit of an aside and I've barely talked about the contents of this novel, but this is what The Palace of Illusions got me thinking about.